Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to methods and systems for monitoring and managing network traffic and more particularly to providing service level, policy-based Quality of Service (QoS) enforcement on a network or networks.
Quality of Service (QoS) is an important consideration for users of various communication networks as well as providers to the network and/or services provided on or through those networks. In some cases, the QoS may be defined by and subject to a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the providers and the users. However, present methods and systems for enforcing or providing a defined QoS are not based on policy enforcement at the service level. That is, present approaches to QoS enforcement do not consider a QoS defined for or associated with particular traffic and are not based on enforcement of policies for meeting that defined QoS. Hence, there is a need for improved methods and systems for providing service level, policy-based QoS enforcement on a network or networks.